War, Morality, and the Military Profession

This volume brings together under a single cover two major topics:
reflections on the military as a profession and issues relating to
morality and war.Selections for Part 1 were made with specific focus on the ethical
dimensions of the military profession, which themselves have obvious
connections to the moral issues associated with warfare.If there are discernable themes to be found in the variety of
discussions of the military profession collected here, the following
seem most clearly included:

1.

Important human values are inextricably associated with the
military profession in such a fashion as to make the proper pursuit
of the military function impossible without their institutional inculcation.

2.

The line between incompetence and immorality is a thinner one
in the military profession than in almost any other human vocation.

3.

The crucial military values (essentially conservative) may not
always receive equal emphasis in the value system of the parent
society; and if this is so, some understanding and resolution of the
divergence becomes imperative.

4.

If there are trends away from the traditional professional values
and toward an "hourly work for pay" framework in the U.S. military,
this is an occasion for very serious concern and study.
The selections dealing with morality and war provide some acquaintance with classical just-war theory, extensive discussions of the
laws of war, discussions of war crimes, distinctions between the issues
involved in questions related to the morality of war and those related
to morality in war, and important considerations of the complexities
generated by modern warfare possibilities.

The need for this book has long been felt by the philosophy teaching,
staff at the United States Air Force Academy, where these issues
receive extensive treatment in our ethics courses. Although Colonel

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